Eight Years in Ceylon

by Samuel White Baker

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

414 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1855

About the author

Sir Samuel White Baker of Britain founded a settlement at Ceylon in 1848, explored the region of the Blue Nile from 1861 to 1862, and as the first such European, reached Albert in 1864.

Baker served as an English officer, naturalist, big game hunter, engineer, writer, and abolitionist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_...

Reviews

[Andrew]

I enjoy writing of this nature for the historical perspective it can provide on the attitudes and behaviour of the British abroad. Once again this shows the little regard our predecessors had for the native peoples of the countries they travelled to and their desire to create a little piece of England in a far off land. Mr Baker's accounts of his hunting expeditions (of which most of the latter text seemed to consist) simply demonstrated a desire to hunt for hunting's sake (he comments on the poor quality of the elk he caught in comparison to British deer). I read this just prior to travelling to Sri Lanka hoping it might give me some sense of the country that was. It didn't really inform my trip to modern day Sri Lanka.

[Thevuni Kotigala]

The book vividly describes the charm of old Ceylon, discussing a wide variety of topics from hunting to coffee plantations to historical explorations! By knowing Ceylon better, I feel like I know Sri Lanka better. Truly loved the author’s explorations and his narrations on it.